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and the formation of wrinkles in any of the NITED STATES ATENr Fri-cs.

CHARLES F. SOATTERGOOD, OF ALBANY, NE? YORK.

PROCESS OF STARCHING GOODS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 284,983, datedSeptember 11, 188?.

I Application filed January 10, 1877.

To all who/2'2 it may combern:

Be it known that I, OHARLEs F. SCATTER- GooD, of the city and county ofAlbany, and State of New York, have invented a certain new and usefulImprovement in the Process of Starching Goods, of which the following isa specification.

Hy invention relates to a mode of starching collars, cuffs, and otherarticles of wearingapparel that are made of several thicknesses orlayers of textile fabric, andin which it is necessary to introduce andequally distribute a large amount of starch through each and every oneof the several thicknesses, in order to produce the high and even degreeof finish required for such articles.

As heretofore practiced at the large laundering establishments, the modeof starching such articles has been as follows: After washing andwringing the goods as dry as possible they are dipped into thin coldstarch and rubbed between the hands to. work'the starch well into thefabric. They are then wrung, by twisting them by hand, so as to completethe saturation of the goods by the thin starch. After this each piecemust be spread out flat,with its face downward, and thick cold starchrubbed in from the back side until the starch has passed completelythrough each successive layer of the fabric and until it appears on. theface of the article. In the performance of the latter step great caremust be exercised to avoid the unequal distribution of the starch,whereby clots of starch between the layers will be produced layers ofthe fabric,whereby the beauty of the finish will be spoiled. Theoperation is necessarily slow, requires the employment of a great numberof skillful operatives, and con sequently is very expensive.

The object of my invention is to accomplish the operation of starchingcollars, cuffs, and other laundry articles by mechanical means in a muchmore perfect manner and at a greatly reduced cost as compared with anyprocess heretofore known and used for the purpose; and to this end myinvention consists in immersing the goods into hot fluid starch, andthen,without removing them from the machine used for that purpose,subjecting them to repeated percussive beatings, in order to drive thestarch thoroughly through each layer of the fabric of which the articleis composed, and by continuing this operation until a sufficientquantity of the starch is thoroughly and evenly distributed through thearticles for producing the body required for stiffening and finishingsuch goods in the best manner. The mechanism for effecting this processmay be varied in its construction so long as it is capable of meetingthe requirements of the process as above set forth.

The accompanying drawings illustrate a machine adapted to perform allthe mechanical duty required for my process. It represents a dash-wheelof the. ordinary construction, and therefore it does not constitute anypart of my invention. Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of said machineat the line at x, and Fig. 2 a

transverse section at the line 3/ y.

A is the exterior casing for containing the dash-wheel, and it likewiseserves as a vat or receptacle for the hot starch; B, the dash-wheel,

'in order to produce the best results of my process. The goods, afterhaving been washed and wrung as dry as possible, are placed in thedash-wheel until each compartment is about one-half filled, therebyleaving sufficient room for the goods to produce the percussive actionrequired. The dash-wheel is then set in mo tion, and as it revolves thecontents of each compartment in succession are first'immersed in the hotfluid starch, of which an excessive quantity will adhere to the goods;then as the goods are tumbled by the rotations of the wheel from oneextreme part of the compartment to.the other the starch will be driveninto and evenly distributed through each layer of the fabric; and thisaction occurs successively in each compartment at each revolution of thewheel until the starching is perfected, for which piirpose the wheel isrequired to rotate for about twenty minutes at a peripheralspeed'ofabout four hundred feet per minute.

By having the starch in a heated condition at the commencement of therotations of the dash-wheels the goods can be repeatedly immersedtherein during the entire time required for the operation withoutlowering the temperature of the starch to such a degree that itscondition will become clotted or lumpy, and fail to become evenlydistributed through the goods, and by repeatedly immersing the goods inthe hot starch and alternating such immersions with percussive beatingsthe formation of clots of starch between the layers of fabric isprevented, which clots destroy the finish of the work and can only beremoved therefrom by washing. WVhen the goods have become thoroughlyfilled with the starch, which fact can only be properly determined byexamination, they should be removed fromthe dash-wheel and placed in ahydroextractor or other suitable app'aratus for removing anysuperabundant quantity of the starch from them.

In the old and well-known process of clear starching, to which myprocess bears a faint analogy, the goods are first immersed in thickstarch that is cold enough to permit the insertion of the bare hands ofthe operative, then the articles are removed from'the starch, and eachone is separately subjected to a beating by clapping it between the barehands until it presents a clear appearance. It will be seen that thisolder process differsfrom minein the following respects: first, by theuse of thick cold starch, instead of hot fluid starch, and second, bybeing only once immersed in the starch and subjected to one beating.Starch of the consistency required for such purposes can only bemaintained in afluid condition by keeping it hot, and it is a well-knownfact that hot starch, from its adhesive nature, is one of the severestand most terrible agents known for producing sealds 011 human flesh, andthis 4 fact precludes its use where hand-beating is resorted to.

Y The lack of fluidity in the condition of the starch used in the olderprocess above referred to precludes the possibility of driving thestarch through the several thicknesses of the I material of whichcollars, cuffs, &c., are composed, even if recourse be had toalong-continued beating, for the only effect produced by such beating oncold jellied starch is to reduce it to a granulated condition, whichprevents it from entering the fabric.

I claim as my invention- The process herein described for starchingcollars, cuffs, and other articles composed of several thicknesses oftextile fabric, consisting in immersing such articles in hot fluidstarch, and then,while they are yet inthe starch-containing receptacle,subjecting them to a series of percussive beatings by mechanical means,

